


Injured Souls Walk Among Us

by LayMeDownToSpace (IGotTooMuchLove)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Langst, M/M, Negative Thoughts, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Secret Organizations, Teasing Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-17 17:03:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10598340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IGotTooMuchLove/pseuds/LayMeDownToSpace
Summary: Some words should be weighed before said however nobody can know how it will effect somebody's soul.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fanfic based on the [langst](https://laymedowntospace.tumblr.com/post/159269282745/imagine-that-shiros-still-gone-and-it-has-been) [ideas](https://laymedowntospace.tumblr.com/post/159296734545/tiny-but-deadly-replied-to-your-post-imagine) that I posted on my [tumblr](https://laymedowntospace.tumblr.com/post/159342310370/saby1227-replied-to-your-post-tiny-but-deadly). Thank you for my bro [Victoria](http://ladygaladhriel.tumblr.com/) for beta-reading. :D <3  
> You can also read the first chapter [here](https://laymedowntospace.tumblr.com/post/159455691620/injured-souls-walk-among-us-chapter-1) .

The moment they defeated Zarkon, none of them knew how to react. It seemed like the perfect moment to celebrate because they all, with the help of the Blade of Marmora, Slav and the Olkari, kicked their greatest enemy's ass. Kicked Zarkon's ass big time. However, since Shiro was nowhere to be found, they weren't sure if they should be mourning or organizing a search that exact moment. All that the group found in the Black Lion was Shiro's bayard. The uniform wasn't there so they had a chance to track him down.

After everyone returned to the castle, bringing back the Black Lion without its pilot to the hangar, Allura made the castle scan for the leader of the paladins in a few galaxies radius but it only picked up stress signals from Garla occupied territories, dead planets and strange anomalies. It was as if Shiro disappeared at a speed that wasn't even possible, that was not measure to this day.

"You need a wormhole for that," said Coran.

None of them saw a wormhole besides the one that Allura opened when they all were in the castle. She, Coran and Keith tried to communicate with Black to find out more information on what happened and where Shiro disappear to but it all they got was silence. It seemed that Black was dead. Her barriers weren't on and now all they had to do was to hope and wait for her to active again.

Even though everyone was exhausted, the sheer will of wanting to know what happened to the leader kept them up and walking for hours until Coran and Allura decided that they won't be of any use if they all are tired. The paladins deserved to rest after such a great battle. They would continue the search tomorrow.

Before everyone went to their rooms, Lance, Coran and, for some reason, Slav, decided to check all of them for injuries before letting the rest go to their rooms. Keith and Kolivan seemed to have it the worst, even though it wasn't that bad. Well, compared to the others, they received the most damage. Coran decided that both of them were to stay in the pods for an hour.

In that time, Coran and Lance, who was mostly observing and getting the equipment that the older man asked for, did a number of tests on Allura, after she told them about how she wasn't affected by Haggar's magic. All came back positive while they expected some kind of negative answer. There just was nothing wrong.

Even when they all went to their rooms to rest, because Slav started to blabber about the possibilities of what would go wrong if they didn't go rest at that exact moment.

Sleep came to all them but it wasn't restful and definitely wasn't kind, especially for Kolivan. The resistance lost so many members today; however, he had to hope that the other headquarters of Blades of Marmora were still okay and intact. The nightmare was showing the bloody moments of every member that he lost in the fight against Zarkon. Kolivan was almost sure that some parts of the nightmare were exaggerated creations of his mind because since the beginning they knew what they were doing but... it was never easy. Some of the members had families, wives, husbands, mates, but he was sure that most of them died beside their loved ones in the fights elsewhere. First, his wife died, but that was many years before and now his mate was only a few feet away from him.

 _Mourning will have to wait just a little longer_ , thought Kolivan as he woke up the next 'morning'. He rotated the blade that belonged to Antok in his hands. _Yeah, mourning will have to wait_.

The search kept going for days. Slav was little to no use since "Too many possibilities and all in high percentage". So far, from the examples that he gave, everyone's 'favorite' was that Shiro wasn't even in this plane of existence or universe anymore. Despite his words, nobody was prepared to give up.

Days turned to a week. Week to a few weeks. With every day they were running out of optimism. What-ifs started coming to their minds, however, they all knew that Shiro would be disappointed for giving up. While Kolivan still stayed with them, Keith tried his best to find out as much information about the Garla, his possible lineage and train in the way the members of Blade of Marmora did. A week later Kolivan left in a pod to check on the other Blade of Marmora headquarters in the galaxy.

"I'll keep in touch," said the Garla, bowing down in front of the princess. She pulled him into a hug and soon the rest of the Castle of Lions' residents joined in. Kolivan couldn't help but chuckle at the affection that he received from everyone, so he tried to 'hug' them back.

"If we find anything about the Black paladin or his whereabouts, we will let you know. Take care, princess, paladins," said the tall Garla man getting into the pod.

"We will be waiting," said Allura through the comms.

However, that was many months ago. Nobody besides Lance and Hunk still counted time in the Castle of Lions. It was nearing to one and half year since they left Earth. There was still no news.

The most important question was still lingering in their minds.

_Where did Shiro disappear to that it was so hard to find him?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to my bro [Merlioske](http://merlioske.tumblr.com/) for beta-reading and editing. :D  
> You can read the second chapter [here](https://laymedowntospace.tumblr.com/post/159640377530/injured-souls-walk-among-us-chapter-2) .

The silence from the Blade of Marmora was becoming increasingly excruciating for everyone. Princess Allura couldn’t help but begin to think of the worst case scenarios, involving what might have happened to the leader of the Galran resistance group. He was either captured by the remaining Galran Empire ships which were possibly now controlled by Haggar or... well, no one wanted to even begin contemplating the second possible option.

“He's tough, princess. We know just how strong and capable he is. Even if he did get caught he’d be able to escape easily. He's the leader of this resistance for a reason,” Lance said, trying his best to give at least some comfort to Allura. They had to have hope. They had to believe that for once, after defeating Zarkon, luck was on their and their allies’ side. Yet, the waiting and the silence was getting to them.

Even so, everyone knew that Lance was right. They should have already heard something. A Galra ship being destroyed, a group of prisoners escaping. Something. Anything. Any kind of news would be better than nothing.

“You're right, Lance,” Allura smiled at the Blue paladin. It has been months since the princess had anything but a worried scowl marring her face, so the smile, even as small as this one was, put the Paladins at ease. “We need to hope for the best.”  
\---  
“I think it's time for us to try wake the Black lion up,” said Keith one morning during breakfast. He, like the others, was playing with his green space goo before him.

Hunk tried his best to make it more edible but it tasted more like green food dye than anything even relatively food-like. _An attempt was made_ , huffed Hunk, eyeing his creation sadly. However, the Yellow Paladin knew everyone appreciated his experiments. Better some kind of taste than nothing at all.

“We have liberated some planets from Galra control since we defeated Zarkon, and we didn't need to form Voltron but...”

“For how long?” Lance and Pidge asked in unison. Keith nodded to that.

Without their greatest enemy being in the game, it would have seemed like they were on a well deserved vacation, however everyone knew that could not be the case. They had to stay in shape in case Haggar had a plan in place on finding them. Since Shiro was gone, they were considerably weakened. Four lions wouldn't be enough to go against Haggar or her robobeasts if the druid decided to make any new ones to come after them.

“I agree with Keith,” said Allura standing up from her chair. “She has been unresponsive for far too long. Even though we still haven't found Shiro, and we're not giving up on him,” added the princess as she noticed the grim look on Red Paladin's face, “as of right now we need a new Black Paladin.”

"But don't we need Shiro's armor for that?" asked Hunk. "We don't exactly have it since we only found Shiro's bayard in Black's cockpit."

"Here’s a thought," interjected Pidge,"is it possible for our armor to change color if that becomes necessary?"

"Unfortunately no, Number 5," said Coran twirling his moustache as he came into the dining room.

"The armor is made from the same material as the lions. A little bit on quintessence. You might not see it because compared to what your lions have it's only dust." The man sat down looking up from his research tablet.

It seemed like he was still trying to figure out whether there were any side effects left in Allura from Haggar’s magic. All tests turned up nothing by the look on the Altean’s tired face.

"You might be able to pilot the Black lion but you won't have such a strong connection with her as you do with your lions."

"So," Lance looked up from his plate, "we'll try to wake her up, make her choose a temporary Black paladin, look for Shiro and... what? I don't know about you guys but I don't like this whole switching lions idea. Just the thought of it makes me feel like I'm betraying Blue."

“I second that,” said Keith, “but if it becomes necessary we will just have to be prepared for the possibility of one of us becoming the Black Paladin.”

Lance placed a hand on his chest dramatically. He wasn't dreaming, was he? Keith agreed to something he said. Not that it was the first time it happened but it was so rare. Like finding another Earth shop in the huge Mall. On some planet, the sky must be falling at that moment. Pidge who sat next to him was rolling her eyes at him.

“Just admit that you two are friends already, you dumbos,” she murmured into her spoon of goo.

"It seems for now that's all that we can do," said Allura sitting back down and trying to eat her goo again. However, her attempts weren’t all that successful as the topic about the Black Lion never left them with much of an appetite afterwards.  
\---  
Their training schedule stayed almost the same except for the few modifications that Slav made. Despite knowing that the Castle of Lions was over 10,000 years old he was still horrified at how bad the old Altean equipment was.

“I don't care that you were in cryostasis, somebody could have installed a self-updating program in the Castle,” said Slav one day while fixing something on the bridge. “Everything, the battle, the shields, would have gone from ‘we're doomed without any hope’ to ‘we're not doomed anymore’. Even the universe map is outdated.”

“But we won,” said Pidge finally losing her temper. It wasn't only the castle and its tech that Slav was ‘improving’ – he dared to put his little hands on her gadgets and that meant war.

“That was only thanks to the teludav and the modifications that I made,” said Slav pointing with three of his eight hands into Pidge’s chest. She could only let out a grunt of frustration and put her hands in the air as she walked away. The possibility of him being skinned alive and made into an upgrade for one of the paladin armors went up by five percent but, lucky for him, Pidge knew that the eccentric alien was too much valuable of an asset to maim.

Lance couldn't help but laugh a little at the little 'conversation' those two had. Then again, it was no secret that Slav was becoming more and more annoying with his shenanigans.

 ** _Well, at least, he won't win against the most annoying person on the castle_** , said a dark voice in Lance's mind. **_At least he's useful for something._**

"Not today, Satan," Lance mumbled quietly. Even before freeing Slav some negative thoughts used to invade his mind but with everyday, especially after Shiro’s disappearance, they became louder and more convincing.

Slav did a lot of changes with the mind melding machine as well. Now, not only could they share memories but they could even feel the emotions their fellow paladin experienced during the specific memory. This, of course, made Lance very anxious because he was all too aware of the negative emotions that were filling him lately. He knew that he should tell somebody about it but honestly, he just didn't want to trouble anyone.

 ** _Yeah, you wouldn't want to bother them more than you already do,_** he heard the voice again.

_Lies, Lance, you know that's not how it is. Keep a positive mind, buddy. You better be thinking of ways to keep everybody's spirits up._

The Blue paladin took a few deep breathes in and out, and decided to go to the hangar. Today was his day of trying to "wake up" Black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Ch3 will happen somewhere in the near future? :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to my bro [Merlioske](http://merlioske.tumblr.com/) for beta-reading and editing. :D  
> You can read the third chapter [here](https://laymedowntospace.tumblr.com/post/159874092220/injured-souls-walk-among-us-chapter-3) .

As soon as Lance took one step into the hangar, the Black lion raised her barrier shield up making Lance let out a small huff of frustration. Hunk and Pidge did warn him beforehand that she was going to be difficult. She was as stubborn as ever and he knew it was going to be tough convincing the big lady to let down her shield or open up to any of them.

It was almost as if Black knew about the conversation that had taken place in the dining room a few days ago. While nobody was in the hangar, the sapient robot would remain as still as always, but whenever any of the paladins, or even when Coran or Allura was ‘passing by’, Black would raise her shield up without wasting a second. It seemed like she had no intention of letting anyone near her, except for Shiro, who was still very much MIA.

“I’ll come back to you a bit later, my dear lady,” said Lance finger-gunning in Blue’s direction, when he felt a questioning purr pass through his mind. “Just need to speak with your big mama first,” the boy continued, walking toward Black.

Lance didn’t really know why but for some reason he imagined that his lion took the form of an actual big cat. She was lying on the ground, lazily whipping her tail back and forth, and moving her head in his direction, giving this puzzled purr as he passed by. Though the idea was cute the thought of a real lion or more like whole five of them being in the hangar scared him silly.

 _What do you mean, Lance? A metal lion, that weights what, 50 tons, at least if not more, isn’t enough to scare you anymore? Much logic, such wow priorities._  Before he could continue the small debate he had started with himself, safely inside his own mind, Lance’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted.

 _She’s my sister_ , he heard a whisper of a woman’s voice pass his mind. He really loved it when she actually used words. Yet, this time, her silky voice sounded a bit annoyed.

“Sorry, I’ll get back after I talk to your big sis,” chuckled Lance, stressing on 'big sis’.

When he was in front of Black’s shield, without giving it much thought, he simply faceplanted into it with open arms. It was an incredibly uncomfortable hug since he managed to smash his nose into the barrier straight on, cutting of any possibility for air to actually get into his lungs. Lance knew that the barrier was rock hard but somehow he lucked out and managed to not break his nose. Lance carefully moved his head to get some air because he really didn’t want to die in a stupid way in from of Blue or her sisters. He couldn’t think of a better way hug it so he just shrugged and went with it. The sounds the others lions were making sounded suspiciously like snickering.

“Ladies,” said the Blue paladin raising an eyebrow at the other lions, “don’t worry, Lance will also be giving each of you a hug too.”

It seemed that actually made them laugh because Red, Green and Yellow let out what reminded him of an orchestra of starting engines. On one hand, it sounded rather terrifying but somehow, since Lance could distinguish it as a laugh, it calmed him down.

 _ **At least the lions enjoy your annoying humor**_ , said the same negative voice he’d been hearing before today.

_So? Everybody likes a little bit of humor. Even sentient lion robots._

_**When was the last time anyone else laughed at your jokes, Lance? I’m pretty sure you get only annoyed looks and grunts from everyone.** _

Lance didn’t want to agree but he knew that the intrusive voice was right this time. Everyone just seemed annoyed. Even if he did do something right, the ‘thank you’s, the ‘good job’s, even ‘you’re right’s always felt so… forced.

_Oh no, you’re not going there, Lance, my boy. That is a lying snake talking to you. Now, go back to the task, buddy._

“I know that I’m not your paladin,” started Lance as he tried to lean more into the barrier, “and I’m pretty sure that you can’t even hear me right now… or you’re trying to ignore me like you did with Pidge, Hunk, Coran and Allura but…”

“We’re looking, Black,” he gave the shield a small pat. “We’re not giving up on Shiro, even though we don’t know where he is. We’re still waiting…for some kind of message from the Blade of Marmora, for however small or insignificant, news is news, right?”

Lance let out a tired sigh and closed his eyes for moment. When the other lions stopped ‘laughing’, he tried to listen for something. Yet, the only sound that he heard was the light hum the barrier shield emitted. He tried to feel another presence, another connection. To Lance’s disappointment, he felt only Blue. Yet, that fact didn’t surprise him one bit. Suddenly an idea popped in his head that made him chuckle a little.

“If you don’t mind, big mama, I’m going to revisit you, as well, after visiting my precious lady in blue. I don’t care if you ignore me like the rest but… I’ll just be there to keep you company.” Lance moved away from the barrier and stretched a little. Somehow, he managed to get all stiff. “See you later, Black,” said Lance patting the barrier once more before running off to Blue.

This time, however, Lance did manage to faceplant quite painfully into Blue. Since the lion was lying on the ground, the blue paladin ran headfirst into the robot’s nose. Blue let out a concerned purr at him.

“I’m okay, Blue,” said Lance checking his nose for blood. Luckily there was none. “Got a little bit excited seeing you.”

 _You need to be more careful, my cub,_  whispered the same smooth voice in concern. _I don’t want you hurt._

“I know, Blue,” said Lance as he put his forehead against the huge cold metal nose, “I know.”

Before Lance could talk more with his lion he was interrupted by Allura’s voice asking all the paladins to come to the bridge for a meeting.

“I’ll see you later, Blue,” Lance gave his lion a kiss and ran towards the hangar door. “I love you.”

_I love you too._

\---

"What's taking Lance so long?" asked Allura stalking back and forth on the bridge impatiently. She told everyone to come as quickly as possible but out of the four remaining paladins only the Cuban boy still wasn't there.

"He was in the hangar, princess," said Coran checking the camera footage in various castle parts and checking from where Lance was running. "He's on his way. Should be here in just a couple of ticks."

Allura knew that today was Lance's turn to speak with the Black Lion but the slowness ticked her off. Was it so hard for him to get here from the hangar in 30 or less ticks? She had to remind herself every time that all of her paladins were only humans and didn't possess the Altean physical capabilities that she was used to.

"You said that it was an emergency," said Keith trying to keep the princess' thought occupied while they waited for Lance. "Are we to expect bad news?"

"Yes and no," said Allura looking at the Red Paladin. As soon as she answered Lance ran in.

"Well, since Lance is finally here," the princess let out a tired sigh, "I'll tell you the good news first. We finally got a message from the Blade of Marmora."

Lance didn't miss the tone of how Allura said it. He felt like her tone was fuel to the intrusive voice in his head.

"Oh, thank goodness," said Hunk smiling in relief, "it has been too quiet for far too long. For a moment, I thought that maybe the Galra had found and destroyed all of the Blades. What did they say?"

"Well, let's start off with the good news," said Allura opening one of the communicators. A message was displayed and even though nobody besides Coran and Allura could understand what was written, they understood that it was still encrypted. "Members from the Blade of Marmora that still haven't been discovered by Haggar or her druids found a lead on where Shiro might be but they are still working on the exact location."

"Well," said Lance crossing his arms across his chest, "that at least confirms that he's still alive. Black will probably come back to life too when we tell her that there's a lead on Shiro. So... what’s the bad news?"

"The Galra aren't led by Haggar," said Allura grimly. It might have been a trick of the light but suddenly the princess looked about a decaqueeb older. "Lotor's in charge."

There was an uncomfortable silence and from the looks on Coran and Allura's faces, everyone knew that name meant something bad. However, Pidge was he only one that somehow managed to ask what all of them wanted to know aloud.

"Who's Lotor?"

"Zarkon's son. And my fiance from 10 000 years ago."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Ch4 will happen at some point?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to my bro [Merlioske](http://merlioske.tumblr.com/) for beta-reading and editing. :D Also, a big thanks to my bro [Josh](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Joshatron/pseuds/Joshatron) for pointing out the small mistakes that I missed.  
> You can read the fourth chapter [here](https://laymedowntospace.tumblr.com/post/160013614510/injured-souls-walk-among-us-chapter-4) .

None of them could believe what they had heard. Actually, the fact that they heard words ‘son’ and ‘fiance’ said in the same breath was what had left them speechless. If any of them had been drinking at that moment, they all would be choking hard right now. It sounded like a horrible joke. Lance knew he had a tendency to sometimes say a really out of place or just a plain bad joke but this was a whole new level of bad.

All of the paladins exchanged silent looks that clearly said ‘We misheard, right? No way did we just heard that Zarkon has a son? It had to be a lie’.

It had to be… How could such a tyrant, who mercilessly killed and tortured innocents, and conquered most of the galaxies in the universe in the name of the Galra Empire, even have an offspring? The paladins didn’t even want to think of how he managed to do that or with who. Pidge and Hunk already had the various worst-case scenarios going through their minds. Keith had a good idea of what Pidge was thinking when a visible shudder went down her spine.

Just when everyone thought that they managed to leave one threat out of commission, another had to replace Zarkon. Before the Paladins even met the leader of the Galra, they had painted some of a sort picture in their heads. However, right now, this guy called ‘Lotor’ was the greatest mystery for them. All they did know about the new Galra leader was that he was the son of the previous one and had been betrothed to Princess Allura.

Keith, Lance, Hunk and Pidge had so many questions that they wanted to ask but now didn’t seem like the right time. Also, Coran lightly shaking his head at them while standing out of Allura’s vision zone, was proof enough that they shouldn’t. Another time maybe, or at least one question at a time.

“I remember Prince Lotor well,” said Allura looking at the Altean letters that, to everyone’s guess, spelled the Galran’s name. “Or I think I did. I guess, in 10 000 years things, as well as people, can change a lot.” She closed the message and looked sternly at the paladins. “We’re to expect another message from the Blades in a few quintants. Let’s hope it’s with the details of where Shiro is or might be.”

All of them silently nodded at that and left as soon as Allura gave them a ‘meeting dismissed’.

Once they stepped out of the bridge and heard the door close behind them, only then did they realize how light everything started to feel around them. All four of them let out a tired sigh of relief. They felt bad for Coran because he was still in the room with that kind of pressure. However, the shock still lingered.

“I honestly can’t imagine how Allura is feeling right now,” said Lance quietly, hoping that the princess didn’t hear him as they walked down the corridor. “To find out that your fiance… or ex-fiance for the matter… is now leading a whole Galra army… must be an unchewable fact to digest.”

“Yeah,” Hunk nodded sadly. “Then again, we don’t know what their relationship had been back then. Maybe Zarkon and Allura’s dad had arranged this as a peace treaty?”

“What an awful way to acquire peace,” frowned Keith. For some reason, the thought on an arranged marriage scared him.

 _Maybe because both parties are like two birds crammed into a small cage that wasn’t meant for them?_ asked a small voice inside his head.

“Guys,” Pidge stopped them near the entrance of the room that they considered to be kitchen. Her voice was enough to snap Keith from his uneasy thoughts. “We’re assuming things we have no real knowledge about. Maybe it had been arranged, maybe they had really loved each other enough to be betrothed. I, myself, have so many question that I would like to ask Allura but… “ the green paladin let out another sigh. Whatever any of their moods were before, the meeting managed to make all of them feel sad and distressed.

“It’s obviously an unpleasant and painful topic for her,” added Lance to which everyone nodded. “We won’t be able to avoid saying his name in front of her but we will have to eventually ask questions.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this,” Keith crossed his arm across his chest, “but I agree with Lance for the second time this week.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, mullet?” sputtered Lance the words offended.

“What a nightmare,” the green paladin gasped covering her mouth dramatically. She and Hunk snickered a little, giving both a pat on their backs with a ‘See you later, guys.’ before leaving them standing in the corridor. Lance could already tell that his best friend was going to stress-bake until he felt better. Or, at least, he would try to change the goo flavor into something more edible. He had no doubts that Pidge was thinking of either pulling an all-nighter on her computer or with Slav bantering on what to change or not in the castle’s system.

Without saying anything to each other, both blue and red paladins continued walking down the corridor. Strangely enough, Lance found the silent walk with his ‘rival’ quite pleasant.

“I see what you did back there, Keith,” said the blue paladin as they were reaching the training room. The other gave him a look as if Keith didn’t know what he was talking about. “You wanted me all to yourself so that you… Keith, buddy, don’t look at me like that. I’m kidding.”

The Red paladin was glaring daggers at his friend but after a few ticks the look turned soft and Keith smiled lightly. Lance would have thought he was imagining things but he was seeing it with his own eyes. Once again, in some planet the sky was falling.

“After hearing that kind… of news… we all needed some kind of distraction.”

“I know what you mean,” nodded Lance. “Now we just need to know where to pick Shiro up from.”

“Yeah…Want to go spar with me?” Keith asked nervously. The Red Paladin had no idea where the sudden nervousness came from but it was strong enough to make his heart beat faster.

**_What made you so nervous, Keith? It’s not like you’re asking him on a date. Oh wait, you’re asking him to have a ‘bonding moment’._ **

_Ok… what the quiznak, brain?_

“Maybe a bit later,” Lance smiled apologetically, “I was thinking of going to the library in the castle that Coran showed me the other day. Learning Altean from books won’t be quite as dangerous as that program that Pidge showed me.”

“You can always turn safety on,” said Keith raising an eyebrow, nervousness subsiding a little.

“Whatever, dude,” waved Lance as he took a turn in the corridor. “Hasta la later, Keith.”

 _Truth to be told, I just want to hold something in my hand that reminded me of Earth. Books are a start._  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Keep hoping for Ch5 :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to my bro [Merlioske](http://merlioske.tumblr.com/) for beta-reading and editing. :D  
> You can also read the fifth chapter [here](https://laymedowntospace.tumblr.com/post/160146761620/injured-souls-walk-among-us-chapter-5) .

Everything hurt. His lungs hurt more than the rest of his body however, and Keith felt like they were on fire. No, it was as if he was breathing in fire, which made him cough long and hard. The Red Paladin tried to inhale and hold his breath while he tried keeping his contracting abs in control. It almost seemed like he was about to throw up from the contortions until he felt them subsiding. Keith allowed himself a dobash to just breathe carefully. He didn’t like the way his air intake came with a wheezing sound. Those kind of noises were never good news.

When he tried to get on his elbows, Keith barely managed to contain a scream. The boy clenched his fist so hard that a light popping sound could be heard. Luckily that, at least, didn't hurt. Yet, the ‘Must stay conscious. Must find Lance.’ line repeating itself over and over inside his head distracted him enough from the agonizing pain and the spasms in his abs again. Seems like he was wrong. Keith didn’t notice when he actually started mumbling those words but the ‘mantra’ helped. He was certain that a rib or two were cracked, yet he couldn’t let himself scream or even breathe too deeply because the paladin knew that the cycle of pain wouldn’t end for another good few dobashes. _Ain't nobody got time for that,_  he thought. He needed to find Lance.

“Lance?” said Keith weakly into the communicator inside his helmet. His throat was painfully dry right now but hoped that swallowing enough saliva would lubricate it and not instead throw him into another coughing fit. He took a few careful but deep breaths before he tried again. “Lance, buddy, can you hear me?”

The silence in the comm was starting to scare him with every passing tick. He expected the others to say something but there was nothing. Not even static or disrupted noises. Only unnerving silence.

Just when they were in the middle of getting Lance back, of course they just had to be attacked. Haggar had finally managed to find them after months of searching. There was a possibility that Galra had a device disrupting their communication channels.

_Quiznak. They probably had been listening to our conversations during the last week as well._

“Lance, for quiznak’s sake, just make any sound so that I know you’re alive,” the paladin bellowed into the air, hoping his cry would carry into any and all directions. The place surrounding him was a wasteland and only a few huge boulders could be seen nearby. He coughed for a few moments. This time he managed to cough up some blood. Oh, it was getting better and better with every passing moment wasn’t it.

_Fuck it_ , thought Keith, wiping the blood from his mouth and trying to finally sit up. He let out a pained grunt but tried to concentrate on the disgusting copper taste in his mouth. When they get back to the castle, he was definitely staying in the healing pod.

Since they were blown away from the undercover facility, Keith wasn’t sure just how far away the Blue Paladin was from him. The boy was certain that the small red dot in the distance was where they had been just a few moments ago. The only thing that saved him, and Keith really hoped that it saved Lance as well, was the upgrade in the armor that Slav and Hunk had installed. If not for it, he was certain that everything inside his body would be nothing but paste right now.

_I'll have to remember not to disagree with every upgrade that Slav makes._

Right now idea of standing up wasn’t one of his favorite because that action would lead to more pain. Also, if he had broken any ribs, the paladin didn’t want them to poke through his lungs. Keith would try his best to avoid that however, he had to do it.

_’Nada, Fedia, nada.’ Fuck, I didn’t even like that Russian movie when I first saw it. Too old, too strange of cultural thinking, but that quote is so on point this moment._

Keith wasn’t even sure if he would be able to manage standing without falling back on the ground and causing more damage to his body. However, something had to be done.

_Fuck it all. I need to do something, anything. I need to find Lance and the others, and quickly.  
_

Keith quickly activated his bayard and looked at it’s blade. For once he wished that the weapon could take on other shapes or that, at least, the katar form had a longer blade. Then suddenly a really stupid idea came to him but at this point Keith was desperate enough to be willing to try just about anything, so he took a deep breath and…

“The Blue Lions is the lamest lion of them all,” screamed the paladin. For a moment he wished he didn’t because he felt more breathless than before. There were no spasms anymore but breathing was starting to become difficult.

“Who said that about my precious lady?” answered a voice to his right. By how loud the answer was, Keith guessed that Lance wasn’t far away from him. A huge rock that was in the view probably was hiding the Blue Paladin. Even though he was rather breathless, Keith let out a small sigh of relief.

_Well, at least I have a direction now,_  thought the Red Paladin as he put the blade in ground for stability and started getting up. He tried to stand up as quickly as he could but the stabbing sensations in various parts of his body made him move slower. Keith’s knees were shaking but as he took a few small testing steps, he knew that he could make it towards his fellow paladin.

He walked about fifteen meters until he saw Lance’s body leaning against rock while sitting on the ground. There were dragging marks so that meant Lance managed to move himself into a more comfortable position.

“Hey… If it isn’t samurai…” said Lance weakly, looking at Keith as the red paladin approached. Keith almost wanted fall down on his knees and cry right then and there because it had been ages since he last saw his friend smile or even use that nickname or call him anything other than ‘paladin’. However instead, the boy just pressed his lips into a thin line and carefully sat down next to Lance.

“Hey, sharpshooter.” His voice managed to crack even though Keith tried his best to keep it sounding like normal. “It’s...  been a while.”

"It must be because I don’t remember you turning into Rapunzel,” joked Lance laughing lightly before he started coughing. Seems like he wasn’t the only one who had some chest injuries. Keith only hoped that they were nothing too bad.

He felt the other boy slide a hand into his. If they were just a bit younger, he would have made a snide comment about it but the simple touch brought him back to the moment when they had that bonding moment after defeating Sendak. Nostalgia filled his heart with pain but he couldn’t stop himself from smiling at that comment. He just hoped that this time Lance wouldn't forget their bonding moment.

“Well, you were,” Keith whispered and gave the hand a squeeze. He wasn’t thinking of ever letting go of that hand. He felt tears rolling down his cheeks but he didn’t have the strength to brush them away. Keith just felt so incredibly blessed, so happy to see this person again.

“How long was I gone?” asked Lance inspecting Keith’s face as if he did something new to it. Well, he probably didn’t expect to see Keith cry in front of his ‘rival’.

Keith was silent for a few dobashes until finally he couldn’t keep quiet any longer, “Too long,” and grimaced like he was in pain.

“Keith, buddy. Come on, don’t cry. I’m not dead, just hurt a little. Nothing the healing pod can't fix,” whispered Lance trying to wipe away the tears from his friend’s face. He smudged the other's face with the earth of the planet that they were on instead. The action just made it worse. Keith had to bite hard into his free hand’s knuckles, chin visibly wavering, and try his best not to start sobbing since tears were already clouding his vision.

“Keith, hey,” Lance visibly started to panic because he didn't expect such an intense reaction. Keith was so close to losing every bit of self-control. He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to calm down.

“To all of us you were dead, Lance,” Keith retorted angrily. He didn’t mean for it to sound angry but his voice had a mind of it’s own at the moment and he couldn't control it. He moved towards the Blue Paladin and hugged him tightly. Every cell in his body was probably screaming in pain but Keith didn’t care. He only cared about holding, cradling the person he had in his arms. “Everyday, we saw you but it was never you. We saw a stranger wearing your face.”

“I missed you terribly, okay?” Keith mumbled into the other’s shoulder. “After you were gone, it was hell for everyone, especially for Allura and I. Because not only did I lose Shiro but I lost you, as well.”

"Since when do people missed their ri-”

“Will knock it off with the rivalry thing?” Keith grabbed Lance by his helmet and looked at his face. “You were nothing less than a friend to me. How could you not see that?”

Lance was left speechless. He looked at him with wide eyes as if Keith had grown a second head because of his outburst. Lance just nodded and hugged the boy back, bumping the side of his helmet against the other’s.

“Keith, don’t ever let me wander into that place again,” whispered Lance hugging Keith tighter. “I was so cold. It was so cold. Like hell but a frozen over kind.”

“I won’t,” said Keith. And he meant it.

The Red Paladin moved away from the hug for a moment. Lance thought that maybe that’s where the hug ended and he started to feel a bit disappointed, however he felt his head being turned by the other. Before the Blue Paladin could register what was about to happen, he automatically closed his eyes and felt a pair of chapped lips press against his. There was no doubt in his mind that the kiss lasted for only a few ticks but for both of them time stood still. Lance felt a shiver go down his spine when Keith pulled away.

“I won’t, Lance, I promise,” whispered the Red Paladin against the other’s lips, the foreheads of their helmet’s touching. Both of them looked each other in the eyes. “Never again.”

“I need to tell you something important, Keith,” said Lance in a sad voice.

“Wake up.”

\---

 Keith opened his eyes with a jolt and was met with a view of a rather concerned Lance leaning above him. Wait… above him?

_Why does he even look concerned?_

“Finally,” said Lance letting out a sigh of relief, “I was thinking of calling for Coran since you didn’t wake up to me calling your name for a good five dobashes.”

“What happened?” grunted Keith as he sat up and looked at his surroundings. He was in the training room. The Red Paladin tried to remember why or even how he got here. Also, why was his bayard thrown on the ground next to him?  

_Oh right, I went to train while Lance decided to learn some Altean from books. Wait… how long was I out?  
_

“My guess? You were knocked out, mullet. All of the evidence is pointing at a ‘K.O.’ option here, buddy,” chuckled the boy as Keith groaned at his comment. He helped his friend up by picking Keith up by the armpits. “Though, you should still go to the med bay, just in case. You’re lucky I decided to go check if you’re still up in the training room.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll go,” said Keith waving him off. He still felt rather shaken because of the dream. Especially at the part where he leaned in and just kissed Lance. Being picked up by the boy from the ground didn't help with the confusion he was feeling either. “Don’t worry about me.”

“Who says I worry about you?” Lance frowned and crossed his arms across his chest. They both knew that he cared and worried but pride would always win over. The Lance in his dream looked different, as if he was recovering from an illness, and compared to that, the one standing next to him looked like the picture of health.

“Let’s just go bed, Lance. You had a long nice time in the library. I had a long nice time in the training room,” said Keith tiredly, running a hand through his damp hair. He needed a shower or a nice bath. The latter sounded like a better option since he wanted to be alone with his thoughts in private.

“Ok, you go first. I actually forgot to take the book I wanted with me at the library. Goodnight, samurai,” Lance gave Keith a pat on the back before he left the training room.

As Lance said ‘samurai’ Keith’s thoughts returned to the dream. It felt strange, and this time he wasn't thinking about any specific part. The dream felt off in all possible senses.

_No, the problem is that… It didn’t feel like a dream at all._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Ch6 will probably happen only after the 8th of May (because exams).


End file.
